By Candice Montenegro, Contributor
INQUIRER.net

ONE boredom buster I’ve shared with all my friends is Googling. It’s basically just typing in random words or names on Google and looking at the websites that the search returns. It’s actually a fun way to learn new things everyday. When you type the word “falafel,” for example, you can read the origin of the famous Middle Eastern food as well as yummy recipes that teach you how to make some.

Anyway, if you’re up for it, try typing in the word “Filipina.” Here are some of the results you’ll get — Filipina Penpals, Filipina Dating, Filipina Singles, Sexy Filipina, Pinay and Exotic Models. Yes, that’s apparently the stereotypical Filipina that is shown online.

Good thing the top-ranked site now is a blog called The Filipina Images.

read more at Changing the Filipina image, one blog entry at a time

The telephone conversation with my mother last night was rather painful. She’s an authority in rubbing guilt and I’m the beginner in the guilt trip examination who flunked over and over again regardless of valid reasons. It’s plain and simple, one thing filipina women all feared and never talked about was divorce. That’s why when the rude awakening happened and all vital signs that the marriage is dwindling and in the brink of breaking up right in our very eyes, traditional filipina women would still choose to close their eyes and try to work it out for fear of loosing that social status of devine and traditional filipina living the normal life.

I’m the very wrong person to preach about morality or question the depth of it. But my take on relationship and marriage has long been influenced by many faces of cultures and mentality ever since I moved out of my parent’s house. And I have learned that when the box we live in becomes suffocating, we have the choice to get out of it and live outside it.

When asked by my mom, where have all my values gone? It’s actually still there inside the box and I am outside of it for the moment trying to breathe some air.

FilipinaImages.com is proud to be part of the Iblog 4 Summit which was held at the College of Law’s central auditorium, also known as Malcolm Theater. I invited all the bloggers present to contribute their stories to our portal or to even link to FilipinaImages.com.

And here is the video

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100% Pinoy interviewed me for a segment on “Modernong Maria Clara” that was aired Thursday, April 24, 2008. The episode talked on the image and the evolution of Filipino women.

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After Charice Pempengco, another Filipina may well be on her way to musical stardom. McDonald’s employee Mary Margaret Yu came back to the country triumphant last April 20 after competing in the finals night of “Voice of McDonald’s 2008” held in Orlando, Florida.

Yu bagged the second prize for the competition while the Grand Prize was won by Natércia Pintor of Portugal. The 22-year-old Davao resident and choir member took home $10,000.

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I have read two blogs that seem to misinterpret the goals of FilipinaImages.com.

Let me make it clear. FilipinaImages.com is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) project to create a balance of the “Filipina” keyword in search engine results’ pages. That’s why our tagline is called Reshaping the Filipina Image Online.

We are not out to improve or change the perception of the Filipina Image.

We believe….that

The Filipina of the Future deserves a more empowered, diverse image online.
Multiple, complex, and whole.

We don’t seek perfection. We repeat: We seek balance in the Filipina images that are available online. We share our reflections about what the Filipina of the Future could be like, too. Dignity is every person’s human right. Whether the Filipina is a mother, a nanny, a decision maker in the corporate arena, a domestic service professional (formerly known as “domestic worker”), or a mail order bride, they have the right to empower themselves — through education, through equal rights in the household and the workplace, through connecting with people who want the same — and more.

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Reading this article got me teary eyed. Another touching life story of a Filipina.

Analiza Yape worked her way through high school and college by working as a maid. An orphan since Grade 6, she did not reason out this status in life to stop dreaming and believing. All she wanted was for her and her siblings to finish college and have a better life. She saw problems in life as challenges and opportunities.. she never quitted and focused on her goal instead.
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